Musings on books and the book business by an opinionated, somewhat cynical, yet optimistic bookseller.

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish

Bookselling is a nickel-and-dime profession. If whole industries could have a day at the casinos, the technology start-ups would be putting thousands of dollars on red at the roulette wheel, the insurance companies counting cards at the blackjack tables, and the movie moguls in the closed-circuit television room betting everything on their favorite horse. Then, there would be the publishers, stuck in the back corner by the bathrooms, muttering that there aren't any nickel slot machines as they reluctantly put quarters into the one-armed bandits.

Two events last week reminded me once again of why it is so hard for independent bookstores to survive in this industry. These reminders weren't major fiascoes or influential business decisions; in fact, neither one was actually an event at all. One was a memo from Simon & Schuster offering credit if bookstores sold Jimmy Carter's new book, the other was a poorly headlined article in the Christian Science Monitor declaring the demise of author book tours. But somehow the two together pointed me to an underlying truth: the chintzy mind-set of publishers.

Thanks for Small Favors

Jimmy Carter's latest book is what would commonly be referred to as "a real dog." Almost every Christmas, Carter manages to release a bestselling book. His titles alternate between the political, the homey and the inoffensively religious. This year's book, Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope, seemed to offer a little bit of everything or perhaps a lot of nothing. No one is buying this book. I ordered 40 copies for the store and after eight weeks we have sold just one. It's not just us. In a nationwide database of independent stores that the bookstore subscribes to, I can see that less than 150 of nearly 2,000 have sold. And I can't believe that the chains are doing much better.

You'd think with all of these books out there, growing dusty, Simon & Schuster would do whatever it could to avoid the avalanche of January returns that they are surely facing. Well, to their credit, they are offering bookstores a "shared markdown" on the Jimmy Carter book. Every year, booksellers are greeted with a slew of these after the holidays. The publisher will offer book stores a credit for every book they sell. Usually, it is half of the amount that the bookstore paid for the book. The publishers typically recommend that bookstores sell the book at 50% off, but they make a point to say that stores can charge whatever they want.

Over the last few years, we have sold many of these books at 25% off. In essence, we are giving the customer the entire credit from the publisher. We end up making the same profit as if we sold the book at full price, so it's worth our time and effort to move these books. Our customers get a discounted book from the deal, and the publisher gets fewer returns. Everyone wins (except for the shipping companies who would handle all those returns).

That wasn't good enough for Simon & Schuster. Bookstores will only get credited for books that they sell at the "Maximum Promotional Retail" price, which is 50% off. Simon is requiring bookstores to cut their profits in half. It is a true shared markdown, according to Simon. Let me get this straight. They release the dog of the year, they want bookstores to go to the extra trouble of marking the book down and documenting their sales -- and then they want the bookstores to give up half of their profits.

I returned almost all of the Carter books as soon as I was finished reading the email. If the discount had been optional, as usual, I would have put the books at the front of the store in our 25% off section and tried to sell the books as a great Christmas deal. Simon was too chintzy to give me that option. Now, UPS wins when I return the books and perhaps again if I buy a few copies for $3.00 each from a remainder company in the spring.

Who Can Afford Book Tours?

A November 30 Christian Science Monitor article, Why book tours are passé, details how the publishers are sending fewer authors on tour and how the tours are shorter. The article touts the new technology that allows readers to have a virtual experience with an author through websites, blogs, podcasts and book videos. The beauty of all this, for the publishers, is that it is so much less expensive than sending an author out on tour.

Now, I'm a big fan of all these new media. I'm blogging right now, as a matter of fact. But the thought that a virtual anything can replace the experience of seeing, hearing and conversing with an author is absurd. The publishers have a golden opportunity to enhance their author tours with new technology, but on its own, it is a poor substitute. The virtual world is not a world where books can win and hold people's attention over the myriad of other offerings available. Author readings, on the other hand, are real and tangible, and they provide people with a much sought-after authentic experience.

In the last few months, we held two different "author" events in which we showed a short book film that was produced by Powell's Books, one on Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach and one on David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter. The films -- the first two ventures in the "Out of the Book" series -- are well-made and offer something that is really different from the standard C-Span book fare. They are lively and engaging pieces of film making while also remaining literate. They are the best that the new media has to offer. It was great to be able to show them since McEwan wasn't touring and Halberstam tragically died before the release of his book. But even they don't come close to the experience of having the author in the store.

The McEwan film brought in about 40 people, and we sold a handful of books. Halberstam's netted us just 20 customers and we only sold one book at the film's showing. If McEwan had appeared at the store, read from On Chesil Beach, answered questions and signed books, we would have easily drawn at least 200 people and sold close to 100 books. The autographed books, especially first editions, would have continued selling well after his appearance.

I really believe that none of the publishers do author tours correctly because they simply don't know the local media. That's the real problem. The most crucial thing on an author tour is getting that local publicity. It's left up to the chronically understaffed bookstores to generate the local buzz on the event. Even more entertaining, the stores are expected to make this happen with their minuscule co-op budgets.

What I don't understand is why the publishers don't have regional publicists. There are regional sales reps who know all the stores in their states. The reps in our region even know every little dinky shop the tiny mountain towns. Those reps know who should read a particular title in each store. And yet, the publisher has no personal connection with the book reviewers and feature writers of the local papers. There is no rapport between the publishers and the local radio hosts. If HarperCollins, Random House or Hachette had a full-time publicist in Denver, that person would know every television, radio and newspaper reporter in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, Colorado Springs, Denver, Boulder, Fort Collins, Salt Lake City and a dozen other towns. The benefits would be immense. Press coverage for an event would be one well-placed phone call, or email away.

The other problem is that the publishers, mostly public companies, only think about the next quarter. They need to show an increasing profit year after year. Sending authors out is an investment in the uncertain future. It might not show dividends immediately and make the stock holders happy.

In the summer, the author Howard Frank Mosher came into the store during his nationwide tour. Mosher, a literary novelist from New England, doesn't really warrant a big tour in today's publishing world, but he thinks it is critical to get out and meet his readers. He was scheduled to sign in Denver at the Tattered Cover in the evening, but came to Boulder during the day to do some interviews that he had set up himself. It was also important to him to meet me and any other booksellers he could find.

I asked him if touring was really worth it for him. He answered quickly, like he was used to getting the question. "I don't know how the money works out," he said. "But when I first started going to stores, I'd get three, five, maybe ten people. I'd do a reading and answer all their questions. Gradually, more and more people started coming to the readings. Now, I'm getting thirty, forty people. Every tour I do I get more readers, more people coming up to me to tell me how much they appreciate my coming to their town."

I thought of his answer as I read the article in the Christian Science Monitor. The article talks about the humiliation of authors who draw no one to their events. "What's the point of the book tour?" these small-time authors ask. Well, if you're Howard Frank Mosher, there is bound to be at least one person you can make a connection with, even if it's just the book clerk who is setting up and taking down the chairs for your reading.

It's probably easier to sit in New York and whine about how expensive it is to send authors on tour, than it is to try being creative and make those tours work. It's easier to create a My Space page for your author, than it is to line up meaningful interviews in towns throughout America. It's easier, but it won't sell more books. Maybe I was wrong about the slot machines, perhaps the publishers are addicted to the crap shoot.

2 comments:

I've often wondered about the lasting effects of author tours, as well. It's not possible to calculate how many people continue to buy an author's books once they have met him/her, but I bet it is a significant number. For example, I was lucky enough to hear Michael Ondaatje speak in college, both in a huge lecture hall and to a small group of students from the English Department. I'm now a devoted fan and will buy any book he writes - even if the reviews are terrible. I know, I know, he is a Booker prize-winning author so that should be enough to make me buy his books. But is it? I haven't bought every singe one of Margaret Atwood's books, even though I enjoy her work. It was definitely the personal connection that I was able to make with Mr. Ondaatje that keeps me coming back book after book after book.

As the events coordinator at BookPeople in Austin, I totally relate to this post. It is important to send authors out, if only to get their name into that town and to meet the few people at the event. Even more importantly might be to get your name and book on the minds of the staff - they are the ones truly selling the books after all!!

It always amazes me when an author tours with absolutely no local publicity to back them up. I try and send out press releases, but do not get to every one of my authors. I have to rely on the publicists to do their job - and many of them simply don't. We even provide publicists with our entire local media list, so there really isn't much of an excuse not to send out information.

Yes, it is increasingly more expensive to send authors out. But making these tours profitable doesn't take too much extra work. A few press releases here. An idea of something beyond a reading (like music or food that ties in to the book, or a party, or something!). And while the Out of the Book series from Powell's is done extremely well, people want authors, not short films about authors.

Publishers need to understand that bringing an author to your city is always a winning situation, whether 30 people are at the event or 100 people are there. Thanks for the great blog!

Favorite 21st Century Novels

Top 10The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. 2000.White Teeth by Zadie Smith. 2000.Atonement by Ian McEwan. 2002.Any Human Heart by William Boyd. 2003.The Known World by Edward P. Jones. 2003.Snow by Orhan Pamuk. 2004.On Beauty by Zadie Smith. 2005.Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. 2006.The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. 2007.Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris. 2007.

Other FavoritesThe Inventory by Gila Lustiger. 2000.The Human Stain by Philip Roth. 2000.Erasure by Percival Everett. 2001.Peace Like a River by Leif Enger. 2001.Spies by Michael Frayn. 2002.The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. 2002.Nowhere Man by Aleksandar Hemon. 2002.Roscoe by William Kennedy. 2002.American Woman by Susan Choi. 2003The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem. 2003.Sabbath Creek by Judson Mitcham. 2004.The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. 2004.The In Between World of Vikram Lall by M.G. Vassanji. 2004.The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. 2006.Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. 2006.After This by Alice McDermott. 2006.Echo Maker by Richard Powers. 2006.On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. 2007.Peace by Richard Bausch. 2008.Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. 2008.Border Songs by Jim Lynch. 2009.Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem. 2009.Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. 2009.Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. 2009.All Other Nights by Dara Horn. 2009.

My Favorite New Books

My Abandonment by Peter Rock. A girl and her father live off the land in Portland's Forest Park in this novel that is based on a true story. Told through the eyes of the young girl, it's a poetic work revealing our connection to the natural world.True Confections by Katharine Weber. Zip's Candy is the setting for this outstanding satire. Alice, who turns out to be an unreliable narrator, details the company's history and her own place in its scandalous past.New World Monkeys by Nancy Mauro. The death of a boar, a pervert trying to perfect his craft, and the unearthing of the bones of a murder victim are just a few of the plot elements in this comic debut.

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. Shortly after World War II, a young Irish girl is forced by her family to emigrate to Brooklyn. Cut off from all that she knows she finds love at Dodgers games and Coney Island in this subtle but suspenseful novel. Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann. Phillippe Petit's remarkable 1974 tight-rope walk between the World Trade Center towers is the jumping off point (pun intended) of this novel of love, loss and beautiful convergences in a gritty New York City.

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem. Nothing is as it seems in this brilliant bizarre novel set in an almost recognizable New York City. The revelations at the end left me reeling although I knew that surprises were lurking. Another novel with shades of Saul Bellow. Border Songs by Jim Lynch. Hilarious novel about a strange border agent on the Canadian border. Lynch effortlessly tells the story from several points of view including the criminal, the cops and everyone in between.

The Signal by Ron Carlson. An adventure and a love story set in the pristine mountains of Wyoming. A sense of both hope and foreboding hangs over the sparse narrative.

Wanting by Richard Flanagan. This historical novel featuring both Charles Dickens and the explorer John Franklin is really a meditation on desire and what was thought to separate the civilized from the barbarians.

Woodsburner by John Pipkin. Henry David Thoreau burned down the Concord Woods before he wrote Walden. This novel explores that incident from several different perspectives, including a bookseller who is forced to sell porn to stay in business.

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill. A British Bellow with a West Indian cricket fiend cast as a Chicago University Professor. Humboldt plays cricket.Chicagoby Alaa Al Aswany. Egyptian students and their professors try to navigate America in this magnificent novel set in the heart of contemporary Chicago.

Gossip of the Starlings by Nina de Gramont. A haunting novel about the seductive power of friendship.

Wifeshoppingby Steven Wingate. Thirteen great short stories of men sabotaging their relationships.